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Monday, January 9, 2017

Eufobia Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?

Well. A lot has been going on with the band recently. We started the promotion of the new album a few months before the actual release by presenting the first single, called "Liquid of Creation" to the public. It has a nice video, that one can see on youTube. Then we gave some concerts, the most important of which were our participation in the Metalhead Meeting festival in Bucharest Romania, which is one of the biggest and most important festivals in the whole Balkan Peninsula and our participation in the Sea of Black festival, that took place in the town of Varna. For me, personally, the most important concert however, was the one in which we played as an opening act for the show of Rotting Christ in Sofia, simply because this was one of my favorite bands and I had wanted for so long to share the stage with them. For me it was a dream came true. Meanwhile we were constantly teasing the public, talking about the new album. In the autumn it was finally released. Soon afterwords we dropped the bomb, that we had kept in our arsenal as a secret weapon. We released the video of the song "Hater". It was a kind of video, that one could rarely see produced by an underground band. If you don't believe my words, just go on youTube and watch it. I'm confident that most of you would agree with me afterwards. The director was a totally unknown Bulgarian graphic designer and video director, which goes by the name of Val Volegna. He's without any doubt the most talented person, that I have ever met. He was responsible not only for those two videos, but for the awesome artwork as well. We certainly wouldn't succeed without his help. Now we're about to start shooting a new video for the song "Graveyard" and he promised us that it would be even better than this one. Moreover some of our songs have been played by radio stations from all over the world and thanks to our friend Alexander from the Grand Sounds Promotion we have given interviews for many metal media, including this one here.

2.In November you had released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

This is our third album, but I have to say, that it surely is the most important of them all. That's why it was called simply Eufobia. It took us almost five years to complete. It was a long and painful process, but it was totally worth it. During the making of our previous releases we had to make a lot of compromises, so therefore the final result was not exactly what we wanted it to be. When we started recording this one however, we decided that that time the album wouldn't be released until we were totally satisfied with the sound. It's true that our music has changed, compared to our previous releases, but I can assure you that we, on the other hand, have remained the same crazy bastards and we've still got the same ideas and beliefs. The only difference is that now we've got more experience and know how to do things better. Our music had been changing before this release, because we had been trying to find our own distinctive voice. That was the main reason, but when we heard the album, when it was finally ready, for the first time we had the feeling that the quest was finally over and that we had found what we had been looking for. For the first time we thought, that we wouldn't change a thing, even if we could.

3.This is the first album to be released in 5 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

This is a very long period of time, isn't it? There are lots of fine underground bands, popping in and out of existence, making just one or two good albums before they disappear, meanwhile surviving on stage for a period shorter than five years, aren't they? This thought sometimes scares me. I've just explained to you why we didn't release any album during that time, but we didn't just hide in the basement composing the album far away from the outside world. Not at all actually. We were touring a lot across Europe during that period. We went to countries, that we had never visited before, and met a lot of interesting people. The most important tours, that we participated in during that period were "The Signs of Hell Tour" in 2011 with Vader, Gorgoroth and Valkyrja, "Carpe Mortem Tour" in 2012 with Soul Sacrifice and "European Conspiracy Tour" 2014 with Immolation, Broken Hope and Sweetest Devilry. We gave also many single shows and participated in some important festivals like, OST Mountain Fest in Rasnov Romania, Tattoo & Music Fest in Iasi Romania, Rockomotiva Fest in Craiova Romania, Rock Station Festival in Ankara Turkey, Thrashing Mania Festival in Sofia, Massive Wasted Festival in Sofia and so on. Not bad for an underground band. is it?

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

Well. I have to confess that music has always been more important for us than the lyrics and that we have often underestimated them. Sometimes the exact meaning of our words is left intentionally unclear, so that everyone could imagine something personal, while listening to the song. We sing mostly about evil people, corrupted souls, social injustice, greed, murder, death, suicide and so on. One of our favorite subjects, however, still remains the forbidden pleasures and sexual desires, but who wouldn't fall for that? Our main source of inspiration is the life itself. We've been through a lot, as most people have, but metal music gives us the opportunity to transform the negative energy of the world around us into beautiful music and meaningful lyrics. Sometimes we're inspired by the books that we read or the movies that we watch. There is also a political message in some of our songs. In the video of the song "Hater", for instance, we play the roles of some prisoners. There is also an evil dictator. One can see that we stand at a big city square. We didn't choose the location randomly. This place is located in the center of our hometown Sofia and ironically it's called "The Independence Square". Three years ago, thousands of people were going there every evening to demonstrate against the corrupt government of the former Communists. The people stayed there for a whole year, then finally another government came to power, but of course, until this very day still nothing has changed. No one demonstrates anymore unfortunately, but we wanted people to remember what had happened there, when they watch the video.

5. I know that the bands name means 'fear of good' in Greek, how does this name fit in with the musicalstyle that you play?

The truth is that when we had to give the band a name, we simply made a list of names and then we chose the most suitable one, which happened to be Eufobia. The name sticked perfectly though. I believe that it fits so good because the fear of good makes a person a cautious realist and we're realists. That's why we like it so much. The word Eufobia means nothing but "fear of good" for us, but there are many people, who think that the name of our band actually means "fear of the European Union". That's not true, though. We're not afraid of the Union. Now, in order to explain, I'll have to talk about politics again and I usually talk reluctantly about that, but unfortunately we live in troubled times and that makes this subject extremely important. The nations of Europe have always shared the same values and the continent itself has always been united by its culture. During hard times people need leaders, but what have we got nowadays? I'll tell you what. Some dumb-ass good-for-nothing bureaucrats. This Union of free nations was the dream of visionaries like Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer. The people, who are in charge of the politics nowadays, would have served those true leaders the coffee, if they had been still alive.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

For us each and every show is special, no matter if we play in front of a thousand people or in a small club in front of our closest friends. We try to do our best each and every time, so even on the most important events we play just like as usual. Of course, we enjoy sharing the stage with bigger bands or playing in important well attended festivals, but sometimes we feel even greater joy while playing in front of just a few people, if these people are the right ones and if they support us enjoying every single track of our set list. Every shows gives our band the opportunity to win new supporters. We're one of the very few Bulgarian bands, that tour regularly across Europe. We have shared the stage with countless underground or well known bands such as Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, Rotting Christ,Vader, Immolation, Onslaught, Malevolent Creation, Pyogenesis, Gorgoroth, Sinister, Broken Hope, Christ Agony, E-force, Agathocles, Negura Bunget, Suicidal Angels and we have learned a lot from each and every one of these bands. We've got friends from all over Europe, who come to our shows and listen to our music and we're grateful to have their support. When we found the band, we didn't even imagine that one day we would have given all these amazing concerts. Back then we surely had a lot of enthusiasm, but things like going on tour abroad or being an opening band for a great metal artist were absolutely unthinkable.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We adore going on tour with the band, so of course we're looking forward to hit the road once again. We have already booked our next tour. In April we're going on tour with the polish metal machines of Christ Agony in Bulgaria and Romania. We really like this band. We played once together, so we know the band members personally and they seem to be nice people. I'm sure that we'll have a lot of fun together. Although we've been touring regularly across Europe, we play mostly in these two countries, because that's where most of the people who know and like Eufobia live. Bulgaria is our motherland, so normally there are many people who are interested in our band here. On the other hand we've played many times in Romania, so we've already got a lot of friends there as well and we're looking forward to seeing them again.

8.The new album was released on 'Wizard', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

We wouldn't succeed without the support of our label. That's for sure. Wizard is the biggest Bulgarian distributor of rock and metal music. The company's been using its excellent relations with some of the biggest metal labels or distributor in the world in order to get our albums distributed worldwide. We're extremely grateful to Peter, the owner of the label for standing by our side in this struggle to get noticed abroad. It's not easy for an underground metal band to achieve that. Believe me. I can assure you that Peter doesn't do it for the money. He didn't make a fortune selling our albums. He simply believes in our band. Our partnership started with the very first release and he practically released or distributed all of our albums. Our first album was released by the Romanian label Axa Valaha, but it was officially distributed by Wizard in Bulgaria. That was the beginning of a beautiful and long lasting friendship. The label has stood by our side to this very day and was involved in the release of all of our albums. We're looking forward to inking a deal with our friend Peter for the next album of Eufobia as well.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your newer music by fans of death metal?

Most of the feedback from both the public and the media has been quite positive so far. I really like the music, that we play, so I'm surely glad that I'm not the only one who does. On the other hand I don't think that Eufobia has ever been a typical Death Metal band. Especially now. The music, that we're currently playing, is much closer to Thrash Metal, or even to Rock’n’Roll, but I'd rather not try to describe it. One should hear it with one's own ears. Once a great guitar player gave me the advice, never to twist a riff in order to make it fit into any particular style, and I keep on following this advice to this very day. It's sometimes hard to make such stand. Much easier would have been for us to stick to the genre boundaries of an already established style. But that's why we play in an underground band, so we can play, whatever we like and for me, personally, this freedom is extremely important. We would certainly never make a song, that we dislike just to please the audience. We're happy that nowadays there are enough people out there, who appreciate us for what we are. I don't think that we lost any Death Metal fans, when we changed our stile though, but I have noticed that we have won some progressive and thrash metal fans, which is great. After all, we're all just metal heads, aren't we?

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Some of these bands are doing just fine, like the Death Metal band Coprostasis or the Rock and Roll project Dreg Satrz, for instance. Both these bands, make new songs, give concerts regularly and are about to release some new stuff. Some others projects like the old school Death Metal band Prokaza are unfortunately rather inactive nowadays. The Grind Core band Mizerere stands somewhere in between, as far as I know. I don't think, that I would exaggerate if I told you, that in Eufobia were playing some of the best Bulgarian underground musicians and I'm proud to play in the same band. I personally play only in Eufobia, but I'm glad that the other musicians have got other bands as well, because it helps them bring new musical ideas in the music of our band. It's quite normal for the underground musicians from all over the world to play in more than one band. After all the underground is one big family, isn't it?

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Our main goal has always been to create good music and share it with the underground community. We feel more inspired than ever. We're constantly creating new songs. We've got enough rough material for a brand new album and we'd like to go back to the studio as soon as possible. Some of the songs are already ready, by the way, and soon we'll present them to the public. We don't want to rush it however, so we won't start recording them until we're absolutely sure that every little note sounds just right. We're very pleased with the current style of the band, so our intention is to explore the same musical concept, but making the music sound even better, of course. We cannot wait to start recording, but there are some things that have to be done before that. Now we've got a brand new album to promote, so its promotion is going to be our main priority for some time.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I believe that our strength and creativity is due to the fact that everyone of us listens to diverse kinds of rock and metal music. Thus we've got diverse musical influences and that makes our own music sound more interesting and unusual. We don't want to copy any particular band. We'd rather be ourselves instead. Creativity should have no boundaries. I personally listen to rock, grunge, punk, black metal, death metal, hard core, grind core and basically to everything that has a distorted guitar in it. I could easily name hundreds of bands that I admire, like Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, Motorhead, Gojira, Dark Tranquility, Rotting Christ, Vader, Immolation. Behemoth, Korn. System of a Down or Tool, for instance, but if I had to name just one band it would be Death. I believe that Chuck Shuldiner was one of the most talented musicians that had ever lived. For me personally he's a true role model. May he rest in peace and long live his legacy.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?

Everyone of us has got some other interest, besides music, of course. I'm interested in medicine, world history astrophysics and foreign languages for instance. I also like reading. There's always a book on my night shelf. I'm constantly reading something. My favorite book is Nikos Kazantzakis' "The last temptation of Christ". I like watching movies too. My favorite one is "the Crow" with Brandon Lee. This movie tells all about the rock music, by the way. If I had just two hours to explain to somebody what the rock music was all about, I would show this movie to that person. Music has always been the most important activity for me though.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

I'd like to thank you for giving us the chance our voice to be heard. We'd be quite happy if your readers decided to check out our band online on our official website www.eufobia.com, where they could listen to our music and watch our videos.We'd be even happier if they found some time to write to us and share some thoughts about our music thereafter. Looking forward to seeing all of them and you in front of the stage on one of our upcoming concerts. Cheers and best wishes!